May 13, 2023 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Gaza–Israel conflict
- 2023 Gaza–Israel clashes
- Airstrikes on the Gaza Strip destroy two neighborhoods. Meanwhile, a Palestinian worker is killed and another is injured by rocket shrapnel in the Negev. (Al Jazeera)
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shehab announces that the group accepted a ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt, while the IDF says they will tentatively support it. (Al Jazeera)
- Israeli soldiers storm a refugee camp in Nablus, West Bank, killing two people and injuring three others. (Al Jazeera)
- 2023 Gaza–Israel clashes
- Gaza–Israel conflict
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2022–2023 Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
- Russia launches cruise missiles at the city of Ternopil in Western Ukraine, injuring two civilians. (BBC News)
- Two Russian Mi-8 helicopters and two fighter jets, an Su-34 and an Su-35, are reportedly shot down in Bryansk Oblast. (Reuters via MSN)
- 2022–2023 Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
- War in Sudan (2023)
- 2023 Sudanese refugee crisis
- Ethiopia reports large numbers of Sudanese refugees entering its territory, mainly in the city of Metemma, where nearly 20,000 Sudanese are reported to have entered in a single day. (Addis Standard)
- 2023 Sudanese refugee crisis
Arts and culture
- Eurovision Song Contest 2023
- Loreen, representing Sweden, wins the Grand Final in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Tattoo". It is Sweden's 7th win, and Loreen's 2nd, making her the first woman to win the contest more than once. (The Guardian)
International relations
- Russia–South Africa relations, South Africa–United States relations
- Lady R incident
- South Africa says that it maintains a neutral and non-aligned stance in regards to the Russo-Ukrainian War after U.S. ambassador Reuben Brigety accused South Africa of loading a sanctioned Russian ship with weapons in December 2022, causing a diplomatic crisis between the United States and South Africa. (Reuters)
- Lady R incident
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Pope Francis during a private audience in the Vatican. (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- 2023 French Polynesian legislative election
- Moetai Brotherson of the pro-independence Tāvini Huiraʻatira party is elected President of French Polynesia by the Assembly. (RNZ)
- 2023 Mauritanian parliamentary election
- Mauritanians head to the polls to elect the 176 members of the National Assembly. (Newscentral Africa)
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is reportedly hospitalised at the Presidential Clinic in Drazdy, amidst non-attendance at public appearances and apparent ill health during the 2023 Moscow Victory Day Parade. (Ukrainska Pravda)